


It's not Just You

by TheDweeb



Series: FFXIVWrite2018 [10]
Category: Final Fantasy XIV
Genre: Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Family Feels, Gen, Hyur (Final Fantasy XIV), Miqo'te Warrior of Light (Final Fantasy XIV), Tumblr: FFXIVwrite2018
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-25
Updated: 2019-05-25
Packaged: 2020-03-17 09:54:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 787
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18962896
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheDweeb/pseuds/TheDweeb
Summary: It always had to be him. Why did it always have to be him? At least he was not alone.





	It's not Just You

**Author's Note:**

> Prompt 14 of FFXIVWrite2018 (Jasper is not mine, I merely borrow him from my fantastic friend Valtristus)

Jasper had not known what to expect when Alphinaud had asked him to check on Artevael. The debacle at Baelsar’s Wall had been heard through most of the Shroud and had brought the ginger padjal twins to their door to collect S’ean. Now it was his turn to set out in search of his wayward nephew which turned out to be a far easier task than he had initially thought it would be.

“Alphinaud or Thancred?” came the query as soon as he made himself known, and Jasper huffed out a laugh.

“The mother hen, of course.”

“So, Alphinaud. Where is S’ean?”

Leaning against the railing at the top of Amarissaix’s Spire, right next to his nephew, Jasper contemplated lighting his pipe. It was not so much a habit as an occasional vice, but he had been hitting it hard lately. Deciding to forgo the pipe for now, he settled for looking out over the ruins of what laid just behind Baelsar’s Wall. It was funny how he could overlook the bodies that were still being carted out.

“His little mage friends came to get him for something or other,” he said with a shrug. “Prolly some spirit screaming about this or that. No offense to the elementals, this was their house before anyone else came in, but you’d think they wouldn’t be so keen on getting people to take care of their business.”

“You’d think, but sometimes you have to outsource.”

He would know and it was not the fact that he did that bothered Jasper but that it always had to be Artevael. It was as if there was no one else in the world capable of taking care of its problems, so it always fell on his nephews shoulders. Sometimes they were strong enough to bear the burden. Other times he saw a tiny, gap-toothed kitten not yet grown into his ears trying to carrying something much too heavy on his own. That was what he saw now beside him, the young kitten whom had adopted him into his family, whom he had dandled on his knee while singing the most tame songs he knew, and his arms were around Artevael’s shoulders before either of them realized it.

“It doesn’t always have to be you, you know,” he whispered into his hair as he placed a kiss to the top of his head, right between his ears. “You say the word, sweetheart, and we’re gone. You, me, S’ean, and we’ll grab your ma ‘n da.”

Jasper meant every word he said. There was no reason, not in his mind, that the world should not be perfectly capable of taking care of its own problems. If everything went to shit, well, perhaps it was time. It was not worth it to see Artevael look so worn thin and soul weary, to see him lose so much and so many people and blame himself for it. In fact, it made him angry and if he could find this Mother Crystal he would give her a piece of his mind so big she would choke.

“You know I can’t,” Art replied, face pressed into his chest and voice wobbling.

And he could not. No matter how much he wanted to sometimes. There were days he felt so lost, felt the total unfairness that was having to be the gigas who held up the entire world to keep it falling into the void, but he could not just abandon the people he had left. Too, he had made a promise to Midgardsormr and he would not be yet another mortal to break their promise to a dragon. Still, it soothed him, gave him a sense of validation, that Jasper acknowledged the things he felt. It helped to quiet the darker, more insidious thoughts in his mind. The ones that sometimes said maybe he should just let the Ascians have their way, so outside of time they were and would continue to be unless he somehow ascended to godhood; and he would prefer to not do so.

“Aye…aye, I know, lad. But the offer is there all the same. You know you hung the moon for me, and I’ll go take it back down if it would make you happy.”

“I know. I love you too, Uncle.”

After that they were silent for a time, content to hold and be held. It was easy to forget that the world was in peril then, and for as long as he could Jasper would continue to keep the worst of it all away until Artevael’s shoulders straightened and he could carry his burden once more. But he would never be alone in it, Jasper would ensure that if nothing else.


End file.
